Praying!

May I also please be added? Thank you. I learn so much from everyone here.

FYI https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/insurance/home-inventory-app-template

Praying for your healing and for your heart and mind to be at peace.

Amazon has some heated steering wheel cover options.

To deal with Raynaud's on a daily basis at home, I purchased (3) extra large heatings pads from amazon which cost approximately $20-25 each. I keep one on my office chair at my desk area in the kitchen, one on my spot on the couch, and one on my bed. As soon as I settle into a particular spot, I turn the heating pad on the lowest setting, and as soon as I feel my hands starting to get cold, I place them on the heating pad I'm already sitting on. I cover the heating pads with a hand towel and switch the towels out with clean ones twice a week or so and wash/air dry the heating pads as needed. I also purchased a 12-volt heated car blanket that can be plugged into a cigarette lighter to use when in the car. For me, the key to making sure my hands (and feet) don’t get too cold and then start to hurt is using the heating pads/blanket regularly. It does require me to pay attention to my body temperature, but if I stay on top of it, dealing with Raynaud’s becomes easier for me. Hope this helps. Ymmv.

I have landed on giving pretty dish towels in a cute gift bag. Everyone can use a dishtowel and most of us won't splurge to buy a holiday set. I've found very nice two piece dish towel sets at T.J. Max, Home Store, etc. stores for $10.00 - 14.00. I recently gave a cute set to a 25 year old young lady and a more sophisticated set to a 50-something lady. They both seemed happy with the gifts. No scents, allergies or fussing to put in a vase.

I'm so very sorry for your loss.

May you be at peace and comfort as you grieve your MIL. As others have said, thank you for sharing her story. We desperately need to hear the stories of women like your MIL. May we be inspired to live as she did.

I've thought about this. How about having BEAUTIFUL "call cards" or business cards made up to hand out that say..... Mary Jane Jones 123-456-7899 maryjane@email.com New friends welcome ~ No MLMs 🙃

I'm so very sorry for your loss. The loss of a faithful dog companion and friend under any circumstance is great heartache, but to not have time with your dear dog to say good bye and the other things that need to be said, that is a terrible thing. Be kind to yourself as you grieve and settle into your new normal. May you find peace and comfort. Spy Car, I was unfamiliar with the poem you posted. I was crying pretty hard by the end of it. I dream of my dear Herbie, gone 10 years now, on a regular basis. He is part of my story and my heart. I'm grateful we live in a world with dogs.

I've been on the forum for years and though I visit almost daily, I rarely respond besides laughing at things. I've been following your thread and praying for your family. I just have to say, I'm proud of your husband and how he is engaging with his siblings as everything is falling apart. Good for him and good for you. You have been the definition of loving support to him through this hard season of life. Your online fan club is cheering you and your husband on!

Though I rarely post, I've spent time here on a regular basis through the years. Ottakee, I've learned so much from you as you've shared about your journey. Thank you for sharing. May the Lord's bless you and your family.

Praying

When I started homeschooling 17 years ago, the warehouse and used curriculum store weren't open, so when they did, I was SO HAPPY. I am very grateful for them.

I had to chuckle when I saw this thread. I'm in the middle of organizing our home library today. If someone asked me if I have a hobby, I’d be tempted to say, “Keeping our home library organized.” My oldest just graduated from college, and he read non-stop from when he could sit up and hold a book. I decided then to have good books on hand similar to having good food in the refrigerator/pantry so he wouldn’t be hungry for good books. We’ve never spent a lot of money on vacations, eating out, or entertainment, so we’ve put our money towards books. At the time, we lived 25 minutes away from our local library, and it seemed like too much effort to get there and then keep up with library books without racking up fines. So, I set off on my journey of creating a home library. Through the years it has taken some effort, but I don’t regret the money and time I’ve spent on it. When I started homeschooling my son in K, he would sit looking through the "browsing books" (I like that name, mabel) like Children's encyclopedias, Usborne and DK Eyewitness, and I actually had to interrupt him to do schoolwork. We had a homeschool curriculum warehouse about 45 minutes away, so about 3 times a year, I would take my son and give him $20 to spend on any books he wanted. He LOVED picking out his own books, which were usually ones I would have picked out myself, but I didn’t mind if they were light or twaddle. He has fond memories of those shopping trips. We had been looking forward to the Lord adding to our family, so I kept all the board books in anticipation. When our daughter was born, we already had great books on hand. We read to her all the time, so it wasn't surprising that she loved to look at books when she was old enough to hold them and then eventually read them. Though we did make those special shopping trips with my son, I now mostly buy 75% of our books from two local thrift stores in town that always have a great selection. I go through the book section, grab everything that catches my eye, then sit down and do a second go through to decide what I really want. I will say that for $10 at either store, I come home with some great finds. I go through them to wipe them down, tape repairs, etc. when I'm watching tv, which goes quickly, and then I place a couple of new books a day on my daughter’s table. I’ve actually had to hide new thrift store books, so she doesn’t read them all at once. We now have a wonderful used curriculum store 45 minutes away that I usually visit three times a year to drop off curriculum I’m done with, to buy new curriculum and to….buy new books. I’m never disappointed. I consider those purchases as important as our curriculum purchases. I also make purchases of her favorite library books so she can add them to her “Favorite Books” shelf from used vendors and Book Outlet. Part of her birthday and Christmas gifts are new books. Just last week I went through ALL the books in my daughter’s room to ask her if she was: (1) all done with a book, (2) would like to keep it longer, (3) move it to her Favorite Books” shelf. (It was fun hearing why she made those choices.) When she is ready to move a book along, and it isn’t something I want to keep, I determine if it is good enough to sell at the used curriculum store, or if it is ready for the thrift store. Before I drop them off, I wipe them down and make any repairs I can. I like thinking there is someone else out there who will find a good find like I did. As an aside, during our virus lock-down, our library was closed for approx. 9 weeks, and my daughter would’ve been climbing the walls without new books to read, but I was able to just keep pulling books from our home library. And she kept reading. I felt like I had stocked up my home library the way some ladies stocked up their pantry for hard times. Yeah! Not everyone wants to put as much time and energy into building a home library, but depending on what is available where you live, you may be able to find good books at a good or reasonable price. I think it is time and money well spent.

What a handsome fellow. If he wagged his tail, I bet his owner would forgive him. I would!💕

I stubbed my toe in my Oofos clogs yesterday also. I thought to myself, "Well, that would have been a broken toe if I wasn't wearing these." I know. I've broken my toe that way before. I may just stay with my Oofos clogs. 🙂

So sorry this happened to you. Just prayed for you now.

Praying...

Done!

I had an acquaintance tell me to stay away from Splenda. I didn't have time to ask why, but I'm trying to get something that better than artificial sweeteners. I really only use a sweetener in my hot tea and I've gotten use to Monk fruit. I would like to try to make some iced tea and add a slight bit of sweetener. I've never really made iced tea at home, so I don't have very refined taste regarding how iced tea with a different sweetener would taste vs. good ole' sugar. Any suggestions are appreciated.

I have been using monk fruit, but I would like to try a blend. Do you have a suggestion of what I could try? Is there a name brand and where should I by it. Do you mind letting me know what THM is? Thank you.

What a great way to remember it! Thank you! I could never remember that one either. 😊

Not knowing the alphabet can actually be a sign of dyslexia. And as for holes--my son thought his middle name was Oscar until he was maybe 10 years old. It is not Oscar. Did he explain where he got the idea from? Does his real middle name sound like Oscar? Is it a family name? 🤔